


A Deal With The Duke: An Epilogue

by hariboo



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 11:15:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4874635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hariboo/pseuds/hariboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thursdays were busy days around the house, but today was the first day of winter much. Thankfully, the skies were clear, without a hint of storm, but the wind was sharp and bit into his cheeks. He was looking forward to a warm meal and seeing his wife, curling around her in bed for rest of the evening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Deal With The Duke: An Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tosca1390](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tosca1390/gifts).



> I know shit all about the intricacies of historical romances. All I know comes from reading romance novels, and retaining about 30% of the details that’s not about the romance. Also I genuinely think I'm terrible at writing the genre. This is my first time, be gentle, but this scene came into my mind and well. Here goes. Oh, and idk when or if in early-mid 1800s (hello vague. eta: thanks to Megan's knowledgeable self let say mid 1800s, roughly. #fanfiction1800s) you can see mercury in retrograde-- IDK IF EVEN WE, _AS A HUMAN RACE_ , knew that mercury did it’s retrograde thing then. I feel we MUST HAVE, bc i believe in us. Overall THIS FIC HAD THE LITTLEST RESEARCH POSSIBLE. Any huge historical inaccuracies that make you twitch let us live in the happy world of fanfic.
> 
> btw, this fic? CLEARLY THE EPILOGUE OF A 20-40K FIC* OF HOW THE MET, HAD CRUSH, GOT MARRIED, FELL IN LOVE, ETC, but that fic was not written. Whoops.
> 
> Big, huge shout outs and thanks to: Megan, Jaz, and Cait for looking this over. <3333 I feel ao3 should have a CC function. Any left over mistakes are mine.
> 
> *which, lol, i ended up plotting 3/4 a way through this fic, such is life!

Thor arrived back at the manor well past after the sun had set. He’d been riding all day to and from town, after a morning of checking over the estate and the horses. Thursdays were busy days around the house, but today was the first day of winter. The chill making itself known. Thankfully, the skies were clear, without a hint of storm, but the wind was sharp and bit into his cheeks. He was looking forward to a warm meal and seeing his wife, curling around her in bed for rest of the evening. Though as he walked from the stables to the main house, he thought about Jane’s face framed in firelight on the soft rugs they had by their fireplace; a better idea.

Smiling at the thought, he nodded at his valet, handing him his outer coat and scarf. 

“Supper is ready to be served, Your Grace,” Mr. Vidar said, “At Your Grace’s pleasure.” 

Food sounded spectacular, but Jane’s face was in the forefront of his mind. “Thank you, Vidar. I shall be there shortly. Is Her Grace about?”

“I’ll inform Cook.” Mr. Vidar folded Thor’s coat smoothly over his arm. “Last I saw her Grace she was in her study.” He did not smile, but there was fondness in his tone when he spoke next. “I do believe she allowed her tea to grow cold.”

Thor immediately understood and felt that same rush of fondness. Jane’s presence in the house hadn’t changed a great of deal of things in the day to day, but there were small things that her presence had adjusted. Supper and tea were only a few of them. She rarely ate at the general respected times of polite society and the staff had become used to her forgetting half her meal when it was served in the study.

“At least Miss Lewis returns next week,” Thor said. Jane’s assistant was the only person other than Thor who could get Jane to finish her food instead of working. 

Vidar nodded, but Thor was already moving towards Jane’s study. 

To his surprise he found it empty. 

Exiting, he called out to her and got no answer. It did not worry him. After all had she left the house Vidar would have known. She had to be about. He thought of the time and considered that she might already be in the dining room waiting for him. He had left their bed early today, his busy Thursday calling, and it felt too long since he’d seen her face. He had stories from town and about the horses. 

Again, he walked into a room, ready to smile at his wife and found nothing but a set table.

Frowning, Thor stood, hands on his hips, staring at Jane’s chair. That’s how Fulla found him when she walked in, water jug in hand. 

“Your Grace? Are you not dining?”

Thor blinked, turning to the maid. “Fulla, have you seen her Grace?”

Fulla’s brow furrowed. “Is she not in her study?”

Thor shook his head, “I have just come there and found it empty. I thought I would find her here.”

Fulla’s eyes strayed to Jane’s seat. “I’m sorry, your Grace. She has not been by here or the kitchens. Last I saw Her Grace she was working, speaking of some celestial event. She was excited because it started today…” At her last words, Fulla’s eyes flicked up to the ceiling. Thor needed no further explanation.

They both knew where Jane was. 

Thor shook his head, half amused, half something he could only call niggling as he headed to the roof. His feet pounded up the stairs, through the attic, where the access to the roof was. The now common roof accessibility was another change taken when Jane moved in. She liked being close to the stars, a fact Thor had found endearing from the beginning.

“Jane,” he called out.

He hissed as he stepped outside, the flat roof of the manor lit only by the bright light of the waxing Gibbous moon. The night air was cooler and sharper here. The niggling became worry. It was cold and he couldn’t hear Jane. 

“Jane?”

He walked toward where her telescopes were set up and felt his heart seized up. She was there, but she was…

A flashback to her fever so shortly after his return due to an overlooked infection overtook him. She had slumped over just like she was now, her skin burning, eyes fluttering with dreams that kept her restless. 

Thor rushed to her side. “Jane! Jane!” 

She had her coat on, at least, but her face was cold to the touch and she seemed so pale in the moonlight. “Jane, love!”

Her eyes opened. They were sleepy but clear. 

“Thor?” Her voice was husky, as it always was when she first woke up. Her breath was warm against his mouth, he was kneeling so close to her.

“Jane,” he breathed, feeling his voice rough. 

She shifted on the deckchair she had had brought up here not long after their marriage. Days. She blinked a couple times, eyes going from him to the sky and back to him. She shivered. “Darling, what’s wrong--”

Her last words were cut off as he swung her up in his arms. 

“Thor!”

The worry that had bubbled so fast and bright in his chest now crashed and left him frustrated, with himself, but mostly with her. 

“It’s freezing out here, Jane! You could have caught your dea--A cold.” He gritted the last word out, holding her closer. Jane squirmed in his arms, shifting to frown at him. Her hands settled on his shoulder and neck. They felt like ice; Thor’s corresponding shiver was not due to their coldness.

She twisted her nose at him. “It wasn’t that cold when I came up. It’s not that c-c-cold now!” But her shivers and her chattering teeth betrayed her. He raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re shivering.” 

“I’m f-fine!” He said as she slipped her hands under the collar of his shirt by his neck, leaching warmth. He wasn’t a fool. He crossed the roof quickly.

“You fell asleep outside, in the cold night air, without proper protection.”

Thor had to set her down to get inside and didn’t miss her rubbing her fingers together. Closing the door behind him, he turned towards her and frowned when she took a step back to shove a finger in his face. 

“Not that I mind when you pick me up, but I’m perfectly fine to walk. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, you know!”

“It’s not safe,” he muttered, not feeling charitable at the moment. The image of her slumped over in her chair, her breath barely leaving air puffs in the chilly air too fresh in his mind. 

She set her mouth like she always did when she knew he had a point, but also felt in the right. “It was an accident! I just-- a little sleepy, I _meant_ go back in, but Mercury is in retrograde these next few weeks. Tonight was perfect viewing conditions!”

Because he always loved how excited she sounded about such things, he couldn’t help ask: “Did you see it?”

Jane’s mouth turned into a proper frown, “No, it hadn’t passed by yet.”

It was almost exactly what Thor didn’t want to hear, feeling the way he did. 

“Jane, love, brace yourself because you are getting picked up again.” His warning was too quick, just like he planned, and she gave a little squeak as he lifted her to him. He headed out of the attic and down the stairs to their room calling for Fulla.

“Thor!”

“I’m not putting you down, because you’ll sneak back up there.”

Thankfully, Jane laughed. “Bully.”

He eyed her. “In this particular case, yes.”

By the time he reached their room, Fulla was waiting at the doors. 

He set Jane down. “You will have a bath, a very very warm bath and I’ll go see about having dinner brought up.”

His wife looked at him like she was seeing something new in him, her eyes searching his. Finally, with a raised eyebrow, roll of her eyes, and a touch to his chest she nodded. “Alright, but bring me up some tea as well. With whiskey.”

He met her eyes and while he still felt the edges of disquiet that had gripped him on the roof he was more settled under her gaze. It was clear and warm as ever. 

“I shall be up shortly,” he said, grabbing her hand and pressing his lips against her fingers. The words were more for Fulla than Jane, though he kept his eyes on his wife.

Downstairs, he went to the kitchens, informed Cook of the change in dining plans, and had the pleasure of witnessing their cook mutter like a worried grandmother at Jane’s terrible eating and sleeping habits. She gave him a tray with two cups of tea with whiskey, and giving him a shrewd look, she poured him an extra finger in small cup. 

Vidar met him by the stairs. 

“Your Grace, I apologise for my lack of attention on Her Grace.” The man’s eyes looked much like Cook’s did. Much like Fulla’s had before he set Jane down. His Jane had endeared herself to the entire household incredibly quickly. It warmed his heart. 

“There is no need, she has her own inscrutable force of will. She was simply tired, I suspect, from not having eaten earlier. Still, I would ask that you see who can be relieved of their duties to be her assistant until Miss Lewis returns.”

Vidar nodded, “I believe young Booth is up to the task.”

“Thank you, Vidar,” Thor said, heading up the stairs. 

“My pleasure, Your Grace.”

In the room, there was no sign of Fulla, but there was a fire burning and he could hear sounds from the bathroom. 

Carrying the tray with him, he nudged his way in, feeling more of his worry melt away at the sight of Jane chin deep in milky water. There was steam rising from it, and her cheeks looked adorably pink. 

“Tea in the bath, how decadent,” she teased, waving him over. Thor felt, briefly like an attendant serving a Goddess. She had no love of warfare so it felt wrong to call her Athena, as clever and fair as she was, but he didn’t remember his Greek deities all that well. Regardless, he would have served whatever nameless goddess she would have been. 

He set the tray by the tub and pulled one of the small stools in the bathroom and sat by her. Unconsciously he brushed his fingers against her arm.

Jane leaned at the edge of the tub as he handed her tea and took a slow sip, eyes trailing over him. She didn’t say anything and he wondered if she studied his face the way he did hers. Her eyelashes were damp and dark and there was a bead of water by her chin. Thor stroked his thumb over it. She smiled. 

Thor felt that last small weight on his heart evaporate like the steam rising from her bath.

“I think you worried Fulla,” she said. “She made the water too hot. I feel like I’m being cooked.”

Thor drank his own tea. “I did not mean to.” He hadn’t. “It’s very cold out, you were cool to the touch.”

She nodded, saying nothing, finishing her tea. When she was done she leaned over the edge of tub and set her cup down on the tray. Thor’s eyes trailed down the slope of her neck and felt his belly clench.

“When I arrived home I thought to take my own bath to warm up, but Vidar mentioned supper was ready. I felt the bath could wait. I’m glad I postponed it. This is a much better bath than I expected.” He didn’t even want to think how being asleep outside for the time he took bathing would have affected Jane. 

Jane’s eyes trailed over him as she bit her bottom lip. “Is it now?”

“Oh yes, there’s only one way I would enjoy it more.”

“Hmm?”

Thor stood and pulled of his boots and coat. 

“The water will run over,” Jane said, sitting up, wrapping her arms around her knees as she watched him.

“Does that mean I should not join you?” Thor asked, unbuttoning his shirt and trousers. 

She shook her head. “No, it’s just a fact. Fulla filled the tub up with enough water for me. Your body mass in addition to mine will make the water overflow.” She tore her eyes away from him and looked at the water and it’s distance from the rim. “At least a little.” 

“I’m willing to risk it, if you are, love.” He moved towards her, grinning as she scooted forward to give room to climb in. 

The water did indeed overflow. Jane’s laughter echoed the splashes on to the floor. It softened into giggles when he pulled her back against his chest. 

She was right, the water was still warm, which meant it had been warmer when Fulla readied it for her. Thor sighed, brushing his lips against Jane’s temple. On her stomach she played with their intertwined hands before raising them to her lips. Thor watched her silently, grateful at how warm she felt. 

Maybe that’s why her words surprised him. 

“I’m sorry, Thor.”

She turned her face and body to meet his eyes. “Jane?”

“I didn’t get it at first, on the roof, but I do… I saw it in your eyes,” she reached up to cup his cheek. “I slept a lot during my fever, and sometimes it wasn’t clear I was going to wake up.”

He pulled her closer, stroking a hand up her back, “You did, however.”

“But it still must have been scary. Sleep isn’t supposed to be scary.”

No, it isn’t, but during that terrible week fever overtook her, Thor had feared not only her sleep but his. The idea he would rest and wake to find Jane gone had eaten at him. For all the fights he’d been in, the wars he fought, he was surprised to find his one true fear was the idea of losing Jane. 

When she woke and began improving he still hadn’t slept unwilling to miss a moment with her. It was during that week he realised: he couldn’t honour their deal of staying married for the allotted time. Over the two years of letters with continents between them he had fallen in love with his irregularly married wife he had met by pure happenstance in a way he hadn’t expected.

“I was scared,” he whispered and Jane’s eyes became bright with emotion. She shifted in the tub, more water sloshed over the edge, and curled her arms around his neck in a warm and wet hug. 

“I’m so sorry, you know I would never do something to hurt myself on purpose, right? I’d never do something that would take me away from you.”

“I know,” he murmured against her kiss, “I know.” He pulled her closer, helping her arrange her legs so she straddled his lap. “I would never willingly leave you either.” Not anymore.

Jane leaned back, her smile small and soft, but her kiss was deep and full. Thor opened his mouth under hers, groaning as she teased his lips with her tongue. He felt his cock jump against her thigh and Jane rolled her hips in response. Her short nails dragged across his scalp. He was getting harder by the second.

It didn’t take long for them to maneuver their bodies and for Jane to be sat on his cock, her mouth falling open with a gasp. Thor gripped her hips and rocked into her. The tub restricted their movements, but Jane was small and light that he could lift her easily. She helped him along by gripping the tub’s ridge behind his head as she rode him in quick and a bit sloppy. More water lapped out of the bath. 

Their mixed moans came sharp and fast but they had to (carefully) tumble out of the tub. Half heartedly drying each other as they slipped into their bedroom. In the end, Thor did lay his wife down by the fire, on the thick duvet from their bed, and had the pleasure of watching her come against firelight, her skin warm against his, her breathless gasp against his mouth. 

In the corner of the room, their supper stayed forgotten until the early hours of the morning when they warmed it up by the fire. They ate and fed each other as Jane explained what Mercury in retrograde meant. Thor promised he’d join her on the roof next time, forever glad that on that day that felt so long ago it was Jane that bumped into him, changing his life.


End file.
